A bout that was supposed to settle the unfinished business between Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos instead came to another bizarre end.

Reversing roles from their first meeting, a downed Santos took a groin kick that prevented him from continuing.

But unlike that meeting, which took place this past November, Prindle was disqualified, and Santos earned a spot in the semifinals of the Bellator Season 7 heavyweight tournament to cap an evening of fights at Bellator 75.

The event took place at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind. Its main card aired on MTV2 following preliminary-card fights on Spike.com.

Referee Gary Copeland, who also oversaw the duo’s first meeting at Bellator 59, ruled that Prindle threw an intentionally illegal blow that warranted a disqualification. The blow, an errant axe kick, caused Santos to roll over in pain as officials attempted to tend to him. Lying on his stomach, he appeared to nap before being rolled to his back. It was clear he could not continue.

The boot to the jewels that ended the heavyweights’ first fight was ruled unintentional and called a no-contest.

Prindle apologized to cameras and appeared contrite to officials and Santos and his camp. The official time of the stoppage was 4:54 of the first round.

Up until that point, the bout had been going swimmingly for Santos, who charged in and slammed Prindle to the mat. Working for multiple submissions, it appeared a matter of time before he forced a tap-out. But Prindle showed far more intelligence on the ground and managed to escape.

Santos invited him to the ground, but Prindle stayed overhead. Franklin could be heard warning Prindle not to kick the groin. Then he did.

After the first meeting, the two were scheduled to meet at Bellator 61, but Prindle was forced to withdraw the day prior to the fight due to an illness, and another scheduled meeting set for the finals of the Season 5 tournament was marred when Santos failed to make weight and Prindle was ruled the tournament’s default winner.

As far as each other, the matchup appears to be cursed.

Following a three-fight win streak in Bellator, Prindle (7-3 MMA, 3-2 BFC) now suffers his first official loss. Apart from the no-contest, Santos (10-1 MMA, 3-0 BFC) has won his past five outings.

Rogers freezes in a career-killing performance

Brett Rogers’ big-show career might be over.

The former EliteXC and Strikeforce fighter froze against Russian prospect Alexander Volkov and coasted three rounds before losing a unanimous decision.

The 30-27 scores for Volkov in no way reflected the onesidedness of the bout, which drew boos from the audience.

Volkov spent three rounds chasing Rogers around the ring while unloading with combinations.

Rogers, meanwhile, spent nearly 15 minutes covering up. His brightest moment came in the first round when a stiff uppercut bloodied Volkov’s nose. But it was all downhill from there.

Several times, Rogers turned his back and shuffled away from Volkov, who waved in his opponent in frustration.

Rogers had said he would take down the long and lanky Volkov and work ground and pound. And while he twice attempted to put the Russian on the mat, his conviction simply wasn’t there.

Hale, who fell short at 205 pounds against Season 4 tourney winner and current champ Christian M’Pumbu, made the most of his heavyweight debut and stopped Mike Wessel in 79 seconds.

“Ain’t no longer just a light heavyweight,” a fired-up Hale said afterward. “Heavyweight coming!”

The shorter Wessel stalked toward Hale only to meet, well, a hail of punches that put him on wobbly legs. Hale quickly took position at the UFC vet’s back and flattened him out before ending the fight with a flurry of punches.

“Everything that we’ve been working so hard on since that M’Pumbu fight, and coming back with a nice knockout, we’re looking to do this all through this tournament,” Hale said. “We’re looking for gold.”

Vinicius Queiroz was in big trouble against Mark Holata, but he rebounded in a big way.

The UFC castoff, who was released following a positive post-fight steroid test at UFC 120, pulled out a come-from-behind win by securing an armbar after getting dropped with a punch shortly into the first frame of their bout.

Holata’s arm appeared to be dislocated immediately following the fight. He writhed in pain as Queiroz celebrated.

Moments before, Holata appeared well on his way to taking down Queiroz, but the Brazilian peeled off the cage after a charge and caught Holata with a couple of hard right hands. He also took a few hard punches in close as Holata clinched. But that wasn’t the worst of his problems.

A left hook rocked Quieroz’s jaw, sending him crashing to the canvas. The referee nearly intervened there, but wisely stepped back, and Holata went to work with hammerfists. He didn’t, however, see a triangle choke coming and nearly got caught before adjusting.

When Quieroz started scooting his hips, Holata failed to adjust, and Quieroz went belly-down with the arm lock to prompt the tap at the 3:26 mark of the first round.

Quieroz (6-2 MMA, 1-0 BFC) returns to the winner’s circle following his release from the UFC while Holata (12-4 MMA, 3-2 BFC) has hopscotched between wins and losses in his past four outings.

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